First off, I apologize to my friends and roleplay partners who've been left hanging. Any desire to cancel old threads is completely understandable.

I've been struggling with a serious health issue the past several months. There was a long period where things would seem to improve only to relapse, delaying things further. All that aside, just wanted to let people know I'm around again and to contact me via PM or Trillian - ironsoldier, if anyone wants to get things going again.

Chizuru continued to maintain the hold, struggling to keep Iktomi still until seemingly, the girl finally stopped moving. She blinked in curiosity, but decided to ignore it and continue maintaining the hold, thinking that Iktomi have probably gave out. However, instead, she was met by fierce resistance of the trapped leg. She struggled to maintain it, but after a short while, the leg broke free and Chizuru quickly took forward steps ahead of herself to prevent herself from falling backwards, amazed that Iktomi had broke out of the hold. Chizuru turned around to look at the Shaman, and gave her a smile for her efforts, probably thinking that since the girl was so close to the ropes but had not grabbed them made her believe that Iktomi's arms just lost strength.

"Not bad Iktomi! But I'm not done with you yet!" The girl said cheerfully as she approached the girl and grabbed her by the hair, slowly pulling her up to a standing position before locking her in a front headlock, Chizuru facing the ropes. She would hook one of Iktomi's arms over her shoulder before her free hand would grab at the edge of the Shaman's loincloth. She would then tug hard and with a heave and a grunt, Chizuru would try to slam Iktomi in a vertical suplex onto the center of the ring.

Iktomi, on the other hand, wasn't so happy. She had struggled a lot to escape from the boston crab, and even then the small of her back was still aching. She didn't resist being pulled up to her feet; however, she was far from done either. When Chizuru put her in the headlock, she responded by putting her arms around her body and back before Chizuru could hook one of them. Iktomi held Chizuru tightly, avoiding the suplex by keeping really close to her. She wanted to stall things for a while, until she could find a way out of that pinch.

Chizuru grunted as Iktomi practically hugged around her, preventing her from finish doing her vertical suplex. She would raise one arm up, before she would slam her elbow at the girl's aching back and spine to stun her, before she would try to hook the girl's arm over her shoulder again and continue on with the vertical suplex.

Chizuru's elbow crashed at the center of Iktomi's already damaged back; this was enough for her hug to loosen slightly, and so she lost her grip. The indian fighter was then lifted off her feet and finally flipped over in the suplex, landing with a loud slam. She cried out in pain.

Seconds before, on being lifted upside-down, Iktomi's loincloth had flapped down, revealing to the crowd that she had no underwear to speak of and thus eliciting a great cheer from the crowd. Chizuru probably wouldn't notice anything odd, though, as the loincloth flipped back on the right side with the big impact.

Chizuru didn't notice anything strange at all when the crowd cheered louder during the suplex, completely oblivious to what just happened before she would get up after the suplex, grabbing at Iktomi's hair in the process and forcing her to stand up again. She would then tug at one arm, Irish whipping her to the ropes and waiting for her to rebound back before she would lift her up in a fireman's carry and then dropping backwards, slamming the small of Iktomi's back against the mat in a Samoan drop, the momentum of the charge adding more strength to the damage done.

Iktomi's world was spinning around her head. Down on the mat, she looked around with squinted eyes, the flashlights on the ceiling making it difficult to see properly. She saw Chizuru's feet coming from one side, and again she was hauled up by her hair. She realized there were more moves coming, but she couldn't quite make her mind between shoving Chizuru away and standing on her own feet.

Unexpectedly for her, she wasn't lifted again, but whipped towards the ropes. Still dizzy, she didn't run very fast, but when they ropes were only some feet away she noticed their existence. Out of reflex, she turned her back to them and, right after rebounding, she got one arm around the top rope. This stopped her from coming back at Chizuru, and she lifted her head to look at her, getting the cobwebs out of her mind.

Chizuru blinked when Iktomi finally got her senses back, and she smiled even brighter. "Oh, Iktomi! You're finally back to your senses! Are you ready for another round?" She asked, getting into her stance and letting the Shaman recover for a while before they can have another go.

Iktomi got her air back as she looked at Chizuru. A smile appeared on her face. "You're strong, Chizuru. Just give me a moment..." She finally let go of the ropes and straightened her back. She felt her energy coming back to her, and got back into her stance. "I'm ready." She moved closer to Chizuru and started their second round with a quick jab at her. She didn't want to go back to grappling just yet, but her good striking skills should keep Chizuru at bay for a while.

"Hehe..." Chizuru giggled, anxious for another bout with Iktomi. She approached her as soon as her opponent was ready, weary of the Shaman's moves. She saw the jab and moved her head to the side to dodge it, close that it almost hit her. Should Iktomi attack right away after that, Chizuru won't have enough time to dodge it.